Lexington leaders reflect on 2016, look toward 2017

Tuesday

Jan 3, 2017 at 2:36 PM

Bill Whelan wwhelan@wickedlocal.com @wvwhelan

Between opening the town community center, constructing a solar energy facility and making the town a complete streets community, 2016 was a big year for Lexington. The Minuteman recently spoke with town officials to recap the year that was and take a look ahead to 2017. Officials spoke about the challenges facing the town in the next calendar year, such as increasing school enrollment and developing a town-wide master plan, as well as opportunities for success in 2017.

What were some of the biggest accomplishments in 2016?

Lexington Town Manager Carl Valente listed three major accomplishments for Lexington last year.

“The successful opening of the Lexington Community Center, after over 20 years of trying to find an appropriate site; the purchase of 173 Bedford St., which will provide the Fire Department with swing space while we renovate or rebuild the main fire station and the construction of a large solar facility at the town’s Hartwell Avenue Compost site, furthering the town’s efforts to become more energy efficient,” he said.

From the school department, Lexington Schools Superintendent Mary Czajkowski said, “I am most proud of our town and district focus on supporting the social-emotional well-being of our youth. As schools, families and community, we are collaborating on ways to reduce unhealthy forms of stress for children, while also increasing their resilience.”

Czajkowski cited numerous initiatives the school district pursued to further that goal, such as the development of intervention blocks at Clarke and Diamond Middle Schools and Lexington High School where students have dedicated time in the school schedule to seek and receive academic and social-emotional support. There were also school and community discussions on the district’s homework policy.

Selectmen Vice Chairman Michelle Ciccolo said speaking at her son’s graduation from Lexington High School and being elected vice president of the Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association were some of her personal high points in 2016. She also recalled the vote to make Lexington’s streets safer for all its users.

“Taking a Board of Selectmen vote to pass a policy making Lexington a Complete Streets Community was a big accomplishment,” she said.

Ciccolo said there was added satisfaction when Lexington won more than $250,000 in related state grants for bicycle and pedestrian safety projects around town.

What are some of the challenges facing the town in 2017?

“We are consistently adding 2 percent more students, or 120-140 students, each year. This is creating increasing demand on our facilities and staff and we have a five-year plan to address this growth,” Valente said.

With increased enrollment in mind, Czajkowski said in the months ahead school officials will, “continue to operate renovation/addition construction projects at Clarke and Diamond Middle Schools, and oversee the installation of two modular classrooms each at Bowman, Bridge and Fiske Schools--for a total of six modular classrooms--to support our rising enrollment numbers.”

“We also look forward to continued partnership with the town of Lexington and the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a new Hastings Elementary School,” she added.

Ciccolo said that balancing the town’s many upcoming capital projects and finding ways to conduct inclusive public discourse that enhances the public’s understanding of the issues are key challenges facing Lexington next year.

“The community is experiencing a heightened level of anxiety, frustration, anger, and other emotions related to change and increasing demands on our limited public resources. In order to remain a strong, inclusive, and supportive community, we need to find ways to communicate that enable us to choose smart solutions to complex problems,” Ciccolo said.

Valente spoke about the challenges and opportunities facing town government with many senior positions needing to be filled in 2017.

“A number of people on our senior management team are retiring,” Valente said. “We will be hiring a new deputy town manager, human resources director, assistant town manager for finance [and a] director of recreation and community programs, on top of recently-hired chief information officer and assistant town manager for development.”

“For the town government, this has been and will be a tremendous loss of institutional knowledge from very talented staff. It is incredibly exciting, however, to look to the future and know I will be learning from the experiences and creative ideas of the new members of the management team,” he added.

What are some goals you hope to achieve in 2017?

Valente, Czajkowski and Ciccolo all spoke about fostering a more inclusive community in 2017.

“I look forward to continuing our community conversation about social-emotional well-being for our youth. I also aim to advance our collaboration with the Chinese American Association of Lexington, the Indian Americans of Lexington, the Koreans of Lexington, the Special Education Parent Advisory Council and additional stakeholders in the community to foster cultural understanding and partnerships,” Czajkowski said.

“We have made great progress in this regard thanks to the 20/20 Subcommittee on Asian Communities,” Valente said. “We still have a long way to go, however.”

Ciccolo also spoke about the need for a town-wide master plan.

“I have been advocating for the community to undertake a comprehensive plan. While Lexington has many planning studies, it does not have a current master plan or comprehensive plan and it is time we initiate that process,” Ciccolo said. “I’m hoping to help get the funding approved at Town Meeting and then I look forward as a Selectman to working closely with the Planning Board to launch the process to commence this two to three year planning effort.”

“In my estimation, one of the reasons we have seen public discourse degenerating in recent years is because we lack a shared or unified vision of where the community is heading. The opportunity to hold meetings, forums, charrettes, and other planning efforts is a way to bring the community together, and align interests so that we can be more productive going forward,” she added.